CALGARY – Mitch Clarke remembers the texts he got and the chats he had just prior to his UFC debut, which kicked off December’s UFC 140 card.

The comments were all the same: You look super nervous.

“Well, it’s a fight,” Clarke recalled with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) earlier this week. “Someone’s trying to punch you in the face. Of course you’re not going to be feeling that good.”

Clarke (9-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), though, feels the octagon jitters won’t be so noticeable on Saturday at UFC 149, when he and Finnish lightweight Anton Kuivanen (16-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) kick off the event at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. Their bout streams on Facebook prior to additional prelims on FX and the pay-per-view-main card.

Clarke, a Canadian who fights in his home country for the second time with the UFC, suffered a TKO loss to John Cholish in that UFC 140 fight. This time around, though, he’s changed a lot of things and overhauled his camp.

The result?

“It’s been way better, way better,” he said. “I know what to expect now.”

Clarke said he gained a significant amount of confidence from UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson. Clarke’s manager knew Henderson’s coach at the MMA Lab in Arizona, John Crouch. So Clarke, who’s still largely unknown on the international stage, took up residence in a spare room belonging to the top lightweight fighter in the world.

Clarke quickly learned from Henderson that simple goals can lead to big things.

“He’s the most motivated person I ever met,” Clarke said. “He strives just to be one percent better everyday, and I think I improved at least one percent everyday because of him.”

The MMA Lab is home to fighters such as Henderson, “The Ultimate Fighter 8″ winner Efrain Escudero, recent UFC signee John Moraga, former WEC champ Jamie Varner and others. And he thinks the training there is on par with anything you could get at super camps such as American Top Team or Team Jackson-Winklejohn.

“It’s a hidden gem, but it’s coming to the surface,” Clarke said of the squad.

Clarke also spent time with the likes of Urijah Faber and Josh Koscheck during his preparations for Saturday’s fight. It’s all led to better skills and a more complete game. But beyond that, it’s given him peace of mind.

“How you feel mentally definitely impacts you how feel physically,” he said.

Now, Clarke knows his it’s put-up-or-shut-up time. That 9-0 start to his career doesn’t mean much if he follows it with back-to-back losses in the UFC. Barring a remarkable performance, a second loss likely would result in a contract termination.

But he’s confident for his sophomore effort in the UFC, and he thinks fans will see a different fighter on Saturday.

“More than anything, you can dwell on the moment, on losing, and cut your losses and do something else,” he said. “Or you can grow from it. I chose to grow and mature from it. That’s been a big part of this camp. I surrounded myself with good people, made changes in my camp, and hopefully, we show a completely different product on Saturday.”

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